Unmanned aerial systems (UAS's) including UAV's or remotely piloted vehicles (RPV's) and control and recovery systems are a fast expanding technology. Recovery of UAV's using a UAV recovery system is a difficult task which must be done with great care and precision to avoid damage to the UAV. A UAV which may weigh 50 pounds or more and be traveling at 35 mph or more must be stopped and landed without damaging the UAV or placing harmful deceleration loads or contact loads on non-structural or low-load UAV components or surfaces. In addition, imparting high instantaneous peak forces to the UAV at the moment of contact with the recovery hardware must be avoided. This is further complicated when the recovery must be effected on a ship where space is limited and the ship superstructure must be avoided to prevent damage to the UAV and the ship superstructure. Present approaches include a net which the UAV flies into and is snagged or a line which the UAV snags with its wing tip. In those instances, the net or line is hung above the deck or over the side: not an optimum configuration for a sea-going vessel.